Celebrations for the Winners, Submissive Emotional Reactions for the Losers

Although I’m not usually a big sports fan, there’s something about watching a competition that always gets me fired up. Case in point: the World Series. I’m, at best, a casual baseball fan, but I seldom turn down tickets or the option of watching what could be the Yankees’ last game of the season with my dad. For Phillies fans, don’t worry, there’s a subject change coming.

There’s no doubt -- and a helping of scientific research to support -- that in a competition the winner leaves feeling pumped and the loser, usually, demoralized. Additional research has found that not only does this apply to sports and casual competition, but to less physical competitions, such as political elections. And not only is there a change in emotional affect, the effect of the loss on males caused a chemical emasculation by way of altered testosterone levels.

A study by Steven J. Stanton et al found that men who voted for Republican John McCain or Libertarian Robert Barr in last year’s presidential election suffered an immediate drop in testosterone after the results were announced. Women participants had no change in testosterone levels after the results were in.

In the study, "Dominance, Politics, and Physiology: Voters' Testosterone Changes on the Night of the 2008 United States Presidential Election," researchers took saliva samples from 183 participants at 8 pm on November 4, 2008, around the time polls closed. Participants provided a second sample at 11:30 pm, after results were announced. The samples were compared for testosterone and stress hormone levels.

Results were calculated against environmental factors, alcohol consumption, and time as possible confounders, but all results found the same interaction with a win or loss and emasculation. Similar results are found in the aforementioned home viewer of sporting events; you don’t have to actually participate in any competitive event to feel the sting of your favorite team’s loss, as male participants coupled a lower measured testosterone level with defeated emotional affect.

A second hypothesis of the study, comparing men and women’s testosterone levels following the election, found women were just as invested and just as excited for their candidate’s potential victory as the men in the study were. There was just no observed chemical response to the election. Researchers did note that accurately measuring testosterone levels in women’s saliva is more difficult and that the rapid release of the hormone in men via the testes has no female analog.

An interesting aside, the researchers noted, “since the dominance hierarchy shift following a presidential election is stable for four years, the stress of having one’s political party lose control of executive policy decisions could plausibly lead to continued testosterone suppression in males.” Or, in other words, the researchers theorize that those who were demoralized by Obama's victory may feel that way for throughout his term.

While the researchers claim the results don’t translate to other forms of competition, be they international political affairs (such as wars), businesses, or the like, it’s clear that simple things like morale boosts or drops have an impact on group (and individual) performance; batting slumps are at least anecdotally the same as a slow sales period or trying to recover after a failed military campaign.

And, if this study shows anything, so can a World Series loss compare to having an opposing party in control of a government office.